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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22708687">When All You Care For Is the Fire</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer'>Kalcifer</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Friends at the Table (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Past Jacqui Green/Jillian Red</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 13:33:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,266</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22708687</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalcifer/pseuds/Kalcifer</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jacqui's going home for the holidays, which means running into her neighbor/ex-girlfriend Jillian. She's totally moved on, though, and to prove it she's going to bring home her cool and totally real new girlfriend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jacqui Green/Aria Joie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>When All You Care For Is the Fire</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I've been thinking about this ridiculous premise for approximately three months now and what better time for cheesy romance tropes than Valentine's Day? That's my excuse, anyway.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jacqui was in a mood, so when she saw Natalya sitting alone in the dining hall, she made a beeline for her, collapsing into the chair next to her with a dramatic groan.</p>
<p>Natalya raised an eyebrow. “Hello to you too.”</p>
<p>Jacqui groaned even louder in response. “Winter break is the worst.” She lifted her head to look at Natalya. “You’re not planning to go home for break, are you?”</p>
<p>“Of course not. My family’s made their opinion of me perfectly clear, I don’t need to give them another chance to hammer it home.” Natalya shrugged.</p>
<p>Jacqui stopped feeling sorry for herself long enough to give Natalya a sympathetic look. “Your family sucks.”</p>
<p>Natalya hummed in agreement. “I assume you’re asking because you’re planning to go home yourself?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know.” Jacqui ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t really care about seeing my family, but it will be my first chance to see Jillian since she transferred, and I kind of want to show her that I’m moving on without her.”</p>
<p>“You know that going out of your way to prove something to her is the opposite of moving on, right?” Natalya sounded more amused than judgmental, which was why Jacqui was talking to her about this in the first place. Natalya might make fun of Jacqui, but both of them knew that she was just as prone to ridiculousness, she was just quieter about it.</p>
<p>“Trust me, I know.” Jacqui sighed. “It’s stupid. I just want her to know I don’t need her anymore.” It would be nice if she could convince herself of that, for that matter, but baby steps.</p>
<p>“Well,” Natalya said, “as long as you know it’s stupid, you can always fake being over her. Show up with someone else and act like you’ve already got a new girlfriend.”</p>
<p>“That’s a terrible idea,” Jacqui said, and grinned. “I’m in.”</p>
<p>Natalya held up her hands. “I don’t want any part of this. I’m happy to watch the explosion from afar, but I don’t need to get caught up in it.”</p>
<p>“That’s fine,” Jacqui said. “The whole point is that I want a cool girlfriend.”</p>
<p>“It’s a good thing this is fake, then, because that’s the only way you’ll manage it.” Natalya shook her head. “Actually, do you have someone in mind? It has to be someone Jillian won’t know, and who’ll be okay with spending break with someone else’s family for the flimsiest reason imaginable.”</p>
<p>“Yeah…” Jacqui thought about it. Her social circle was depressingly small even before putting those kind of limits on it. Her friends did tend to be up for bad ideas, though, so there was a chance. “There are still two weeks before finals, I’ll figure something out.”</p>
<p>“Good luck with that,” Natalya said. “In the meantime, they’re about to stop serving lunch, so you should probably worry about getting food before getting a fake girlfriend.”</p>
<p>Jacqui snorted, but Natalya had a point. She pushed herself up and went to get in line.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Throwing a party in the middle of reading period seemed counterproductive, but Jacqui couldn’t study any more without her brain exploding, so she might as well go drive all the knowledge from her brain for a bit.</p>
<p>She arrived at Tea’s house to find things already in full swing. Tea’s roommate Jace invited her in and showed her to the dance floor, and that was all Jacqui needed.</p>
<p>She emerged maybe an hour later, sweaty and in need of a drink and unable to fight down a smile. It had been too long since she’d been able to cut loose like this.</p>
<p>She was looking for the bar when she was pulled aside by someone she vaguely recognized. They were Natalya’s friend with a pretentious name, she was pretty sure. Aristotle?</p>
<p>Whoever they were, their eyes lit up when they saw her. “Jacqui, right? Natalya said you wanted someone to go home with you over break and pretend to be your girlfriend. Are you still looking?”</p>
<p>Jacqui looked at their outfit skeptically. The shiny fabric and bright colors of it put her in mind of a five-year-old’s Halloween costume. “I guess?”</p>
<p>They laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not volunteering. I have to go start political debates and disappoint my own family. But I have a friend who’s looking for an excuse not to go home, and I think she’d get a kick out of this dumb plan. No offense.”</p>
<p>“Now why would I take offense at a stranger insulting me out of nowhere?” Jacqui leaned back against the wall, since evidently this conversation would take a while.</p>
<p>“To be fair, you were totally judging my Heelies first.”</p>
<p>Jacqui hadn’t been, because she couldn’t see their shoes in this light, but she conceded the general point. “So who’s this friend of yours, anyway?”</p>
<p>“She’s…” Probably-not-Sophocles looked around. “Actually, maybe I should just introduce you.” And with that, they practically ran off, leaving Jacqui looking cool and disaffected for no reason.</p>
<p>Weird. She wasn’t going to worry about it, though. Either they were gone, or she’d found a solution to her problems without even looking. It was a win-win scenario as far as she was concerned.</p>
<p>Until then, she was going to try to track down a drink.</p>
<p>She’d succeeded several times over when Hippocrates (?) found her again. They were accompanied by a woman Jacqui would have sworn she knew but couldn’t quite place. “All right,” they said, looking very pleased with themself. “This is the one I was telling you about. I’d have introduced you sooner, but someone couldn’t be bothered to show up on time.”</p>
<p>“It’s not my fault AuDy’s van is held together with duct tape and paper clips.” The woman stuck out a hand for Jacqui to shake. “Hi, I’m Aria. I’ve never been anyone’s fake girlfriend, but I’ve been a real girlfriend and I have acting experience, so I’m hoping that’s enough.”</p>
<p>“I was going to settle for ‘is willing to act lovey-dovey in front of my ex-girlfriend’, so if anything, you’re overqualified.” She shook Aria’s hand. “I’m Jacqui. It’s nice to meet you.”</p>
<p>The nagging feeling that she should know Aria had only intensified since Aria had introduced herself, but Jacqui couldn’t pin it down. She didn’t think they’d had any classes together. Maybe they’d just run into each other at parties before?</p>
<p>She realized she’d been staring when Aria frowned at her. She shook her head to clear it and grabbed her phone. “I don’t think I should be making plans right now. Can I get your number and we can talk later?”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah, of course.” Aria took the phone and fiddled with it until her own phone chimed. “There.”</p>
<p>When Jacqui took her phone back, she saw a text sent to an unknown number that read, “let’s get drinks ;)”</p>
<p>Jacqui snorted, which in turn made Aria giggle. “Hey, if we’re going to be girlfriends, we might as well commit.” She looked over her shoulder and sighed. “I should probably go find my friends, but I’m looking forward to putting this plan into action. Especially now that I’ve met you.” She winked. It was such an affected gesture that it looped back around to being endearing.</p>
<p>“See you around,” Jacqui said.</p>
<p>Aria waved and vanished into the crowd, leaving only the conviction that Jacqui knew who she was, if only she could put her finger on it.</p>
<p>Well, she’d just agreed to spend two weeks with her in the middle of a suburban wasteland. They were going to know each other pretty damn well by the end of it.</p>
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